Security guards seize 'free speech wall' at Queen's University

Queen's University free speech wall seized by security guards

Once again, an attempt to mount a “free speech wall” on a Canadian university campus has failed in a matter of hours.

The wall was erected Tuesday morning by Queen’s Students for Liberty. Like similar walls in campuses across North America, the idea was simply to have a space where students could write what they wanted without fear of censorship.

“Queen’s Students for Liberty will invite students, faculty and community members to express their thoughts and opinions on the wall, as an exercise of their free expression rights,” read a release announcing the wall’s installation.

By that evening, however, the Kingston, Ont.-based university had dispatched security guards to seize the wall on the grounds it contained “hate speech” and “racial slurs,” said Alan Harrison, the university’s provost.

He refused to say what language had prompted the takedown.

“If you want to know what it said, you should ask somebody else,” he said.

The Queen’s wall was only the latest iteration in a nationwide “free speech wall” campaign by the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.

In January, a JCCF-sponsored free speech wall erected on the campus of Carleton University in Ottawa was torn down within 24 hours by a man claiming to be an anti-homophobia activist.

Although the wall contained no anti-gay language, he nevertheless claimed the project was an “act of violence” against gays.

As the free speech wall was on Queen’s University property, the installation was technically subject to the university’s Code of Conduct and Harassment/Discrimination Policy — both of which administrators cited in having it removed.

But John Carpay, the JCCF’s president, said Wednesday, “The contract between tuition-paying students and their university gives students the legal right to express their views on campus, whether individually or as a club.”